• News/Talk
  • Music
  • Entertainment

America at War

A Veteran Poet

Listen to this Story
Larger view
War Vet
View the Slideshow

Mickey Cesar is a poet and a veteran of the Iraq War. He's written poems in the 140-degree heat of the desert with sand blowing every which way. He says all of his poems, regardless of the topic, are informed by the war. Cesar shares his story with Weekend America.

trenches

Sacraments have a different smell

here where the topsoil sinks deep,

and mud claims every living thing:

sludge, detritus,

the silk of spiders

and all things hidden from the sun;

mold-touched sheets of Leviticus,

the taste of copper in water,

the scent of sisters too long in the attic, oak leaves, grubs, all stop at the water's edge.

For long stretches,

God is unwilling to bend:

beyond lay dry seas,

scorched bitterness,

erosion,

scorpions the baked flavor of crushed bone:

steam-dried and

roasted petroleum.

-- Mickey Ceasar

published by Poetry Society of New Hampshire anthology "The Other Side of Sorrow" 2006

More stories from our America at War series

Comments

  • Comment | Refresh

  • Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.

    Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Weekend America reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.

      Form is no longer active

     

    You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Download Weekend America

Weekend Weather

From the January 31 broadcast

Support American Public Media with your Amazon.com purchases
Search Amazon.com:
Keywords:
 ©2015 American Public Media